Air-Ground War Combat Videos
Click below to experience the first in a series of never before published edited videos of the legendary 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing during air combat operations in the Korean War.
The Legendary 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing
...first in a series of videos honoring the Korean War service of
the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing. See below for schedule of future
postings and subjects.
The Legendary 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in Korea (video)The combat record of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing during the Korean War is among the most illustrious of any U.S. military unit in our nation’s history.
From June 1950 through July 1953, units of the U.S. Far East Air Force flew more than 539,000 air combat sorties during the Korean War to prevent a Communist take-over of the Korean peninsula.
The four flying squadrons of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing flew more than 62,000 sorties during 37 months of combat in the Korean War. In other words, the 12th Squadron, the 67th Squadron, the 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron and the Second Squadron of the South African Air Force, flew over eleven percent of ALL Air Force combat sorties for counter-air, armed interdiction, close air support, reconnaissance, combat rescue, air control, and training missions.
During more than three years of continuous air combat, the squadrons and support units of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing:
• Could be counted on to fly the required combat sorties no matter what the weather, much of it awful—awful hot or awful cold.
• The pilots of the 18th Wing flew more combat sorties during the Korean War than any other U.S. air combat unit…over 62,000 of them in 37 months.
• The ground crews called their Mustang fighter-bomber “Spam Cans” after the thin metal of the ready to eat ham product they used to patch the bullet holes in the shot-up aircraft. Their Mustangs were designed and built during World War Two to overcome Germany’s Luftwaffe, and were never built for fighter-bomber missions—but those were the missions its pilots were called on to fly—and fly them they did.
• The tough and resourceful ground crews kept their Mustangs ready for combat regardless of the heat, the cold, the lack of parts or having to perform virtually all maintenance out in the open—right on the flight line.
• The 18th Wing maintained an operational level of flexibility and adaptability that is unparalleled in U.S. Air Force history. The 18th Wing is the only known Air Force flying unit to be asked to convert from one type of aircraft to another—while engaged in combat and without “standing down” from required combat mission completions—not once, but twice and while operating from crude “forward operating bases.” From jets to props at the beginning of the Korean War, then from props to F-86 Sabrejets, in January 1953.
The records and histories of the Korean War reveal that the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing played a critical role in determining the outcome of the war on many occasions, and in doing so, established an unsurpassed combat record. The Air Force historian credits close air support and armed interdiction of supply lines throughout Korea during the summer of 1950 with turning the tide of the North Korean invasion long before the famous Inchon amphibious landings by General MacArthur. The 18th Wing provided the majority of those missions during that period.
Brigadier General Turner C. Rogers–popularly and respectfully known as nicknamed “Tee Cee”, flew combat missions with his men and served with distinction as the 18th Wing Commander in 1951-1952.
After the Wing’s first year of Korean War combat, General Rogers pointed out in a message to the Wing the many reasons why, as he modestly put it, the 18th Wing was “The Best Damn Fighter Wing in the World.”
General Rogers did not overstate his praise for the 18th Wing. An assessment of the Wing’s Korean War combat operations, the focus of research for Truckbusters From Dogpatch, confirms that what this unit accomplished during its Korean War service ranks it alongside other legendary military units of the United States Armed Forces.
The Eighteenth Wing and its Veterans can take great pride in laying the foundations for what was—and remains—the greatest Air Force in the world. Certainly they can take pride in knowing that they were—and remain—the Best Damn Fighter Wing in the World.
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The Legendary 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in Korea (video)
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Living conditions at K-46 (deplorable)...To be posted March 31, 2008
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Mustangs on the flight line at K-46 and K-16...To be posted April 7, 2008
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Mission preparation by the dedicated ground crews...To be posted April 14, 2008
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Take offs and landings from K-46 and K-16...To be posted April 21, 2008
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Close Air Support...To be posted April 28, 2008
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The history-making 45,000th mission by Capt. Elliott Ayer...To be posted May 5, 2008
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F-86 versus Mig-15...To be posted May 12, 2008